Kaleponi

Every now and then I get a request to help someone learn a slack key piece. It’s actually something I like to do, it fits well with my mission to spread the love for slack key – as long as I don’t have to create tablature for the song. For me, playing guitar is fun, shooting video is a delight, but creating tab is just tedious work (grin).

After I posted the duet version of Kaula `Ili I got a request for help learning the piece and I thought it would be a good candidate for a video tutorial. Since the song is done in waltz time or 3/4 time it’s a little different from the more usual 4/4 time rhythm. Led and I both really enjoy playing waltz time tunes but they can take a bit of practice to get the feel.

Hopefully this demonstration will help folks get the feel for playing slack key in 3/4 time.

When Led was visiting back in October we captured a couple of our favorite tunes on video. Led’s father composed Pau Hana Slack Key to celebrate finishing work and getting down to the serious business of playing music and having fun. It’s a bouncy little piece that gives Led a chance to show his talent for improvisation.

One of the great classics of slack key is the old paniolo song, Kaula `Ili, named for the rawhide lariat used by Hawaiian cowboys. It’s a traditional piece with a range of versions, translations, and interpretations but the one that I immediately think of is Sonny Chillingworth’s recording on his Sonny Solo CD. This version works well for Led and I because he is such a master of waltz time and I have tried to capture the feel of Sonny’s piece for many years.

Both these videos were shot in world famous Brass Toucan Studio, also known as upstairs over the garage at our house in Walnut Creek.

After we got home from Hawai`i I got busy learning Ua Noho Au A Kupa, inspired by Mike Kaawa’s vocal version we recorded some years ago.

Here’s Mike playing his Adamas twelve string and singing while I back him up. He’s in standard tuning, I’m using D wahine, spelled D A D F# A C# and playing my Kim Walker OM guitar:

My solo arrangement is without a vocal to provide interest so I decided to modulate between G and C. I’m using Taropatch open G tuning (D G D G B D). This time the guitar is my Kathy Wingert Model EC:

There’s lots more fun stuff on the YouTube channel with Mike Kaawa in various situations and combinations. I’ve created a Mike Kaawa playlist so you can cruise through clips with Mike doing his magic.

When we decided to finally replace our 2004 Honda CR-V (with its “LV4HULA” personalized plate) we discovered that we had used up most of its trade-in or resale value. And we learned that shipping the car to O`ahu would not break the bank. In fact compared to what we were spending on rental cars it might just be a bargain. Even better, we could use it as a storage locker for clothes and gear that we wanted to keep in Hawai`i. And that’s how “Hula Girl” (as Ledward called her) made it to her new home.

I’ve had the idea to do a video featuring “Hula Girl” for a number of years but I kept procrastinating, until 2022 and the new addition to the video production team – lovely Lynnie had started shooting background shots for some of our clips and her work was adding a lot. With just a bit of persuasion she came on board to add her skills to the mix. Ledward’s backyard has become one of our favorite locations, especially since he upgraded the plantings. So here’s the result, an instrumental duet take on Holoholo Ka`a to celebrate our happy little ka`a:

Among the sweetest things about the life I live are the regular visits to the windward side of O`ahu. The beaches are among the best in the world, the scenery is dramatically beautiful, and we have made many treasured friends there. Besides all that I often find inspiration for a musical adventure on the windward side. I just had such an experience over the last few weeks.

About 10 years ago I composed a slack key instrumental to celebrate the neighborhood where Kailua Road meets Kalaheo Ave on the way to Kailua Beach Park and Lanikai. There’s a triangle park there, a nearby micro-mall with kayak rental, plate lunch, shave ice, and pizza, and the iconic Kalapawai Market, a feature of the neighborhood since 1932. I called the tune Kalapawai Swing and included a car mounted camera in the video shoot. This year I refreshed my memory of the song, set up my current camera and recorder configuration, and had the bonus of a video drone operated by my buddy Jim.

Here’s Kalapawai Swing (Take 2):

One of the most dramatic features of windward O`ahu is the range of mountains called The Ko`olau. These gigantic walls are the remnants of a huge volcano that formed the east side of O`ahu millions of years ago. These walls would encircle the eastern end of the island, but around two million years ago the east side of the wall collapsed and fell into the ocean, leaving the caldera floor for habitation and the remaining mountain range dividing the windward side of Oahu from the leeward.

Driving or walking around Kailua or Kane`ohe, the Ko`olau range is always a looming presence, but it’s hard to catch the magic in a camera because of power lines, trees, tall buildings. When I set out to do a video of a song called Nani Ko`olau Led Kaapana suggested that we set up in the Hawaiian Memorial Garden cemetery in Kane`ohe. He’s familiar with the location because it’s part of his exercise walking routine, and when we arrived there at 6:30 one morning there were already plenty of folks strolling through the rolling terrain.

We persuaded Lynnie to come along and shoot some wide panning shots of the mountains to add color to our music video, and we were well pleased with the result. Here’s Nani Ko`olau:

So there are our windward side songs for 2022 up until now. I hope you enjoyed them.

Lynn has been dancing hula since we retired, getting to be quite a few years now, and we have made many great friends through that time. One of the most precious of those new friends was Lea Hadlich, a dainty bundle of grace and energy who filled her many years with family, with learning, with travel, and with dance. During those delightful practice sessions we hosted for the kupuna dancers Lea brought the energy and focus that made the most of their efforts.

When Lea requested that I play a song, she nearly always asked for Lovely Hula Hands, one of R. Alex Anderson’s many classics. And if she was going to dance the song, she always asked me to play it slowly. So when I set out to do a little tribute to her I knew I should make it Lovely Hula Hands played just as slowly as I possibly could.

Of course if I were really playing for Lea to dance I would have to sing, but I would never subject you to that.

This clip was shot at The Brass Toucan, my home studio. The guitar I used is my beloved Kathy Wingert Model E tuned to taropatch open G (D G D G B D from low pitch to high). This arrangement plays through the song once in the key of C then modulates to the key of G. I used my Zoom F6 audio recorder with a pair of DPA 4061 miniature omnidirectional condensers plugged directly into the recorder. The video was captured on a Panasonic Lumix GH5 and a GH4, then the whole thing was edited in Edius 9.

I’m not sure where the time went, or what I accomplished while I was ignoring this happy place, but I’m back to catch up on the past year-plus. And the main thing to catch up on would be the videos I’ve posted on the good old YouTube channel. The last video I shared out here was Aloha `Oe back in October of 2020, and I have recorded and posted a variety of clips since then. Here they are in order of production:

Punahele means Favorite in Hawaiian, and Uncle Ray Kane used that title for this instrumental composition.

It is one of my favorites for listening and for trying to play. I confess that I never catch the infectious bounce and swagger that Ray brings to the tune, but I keep trying.

Every now and then I get the urge to do a “self-duet” video. Often these videos are as much about some aspect of technology as they are about compelling music. In this one I’m fooling around with a medley of Hula Lady and the classic hula, Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai. But I’m also demonstrating the power of a free video editor, Shotcut.

This little clip is lacking a bit in artistic merit, but at least it gave the Brass Toucan an opportunity to put in an appearance.

Thanks to the planning and research by lovely Lynnie, we get to spend some days in Hawai`i most years. Although 2020 was a no-go due to the pandemic, we did manage to make the trip in 2021. And being in Hawai`i means shooting videos in beautiful scenery, often with Ledward Kaapana alongside. I set out to do a tribute to our most watched video, a duet on Black Sand shot in Led’s backyard.

The original version from 2012:

and the tribute version from 2021:

I’m happy to say that there have been some real improvements in audio and video quality over the years. And Led has upgraded the plantings around his house so the backyard is even more lovely. But the majesty of the Ko`olau looming in the mists of Kane`ohe is timeless.

This next clip was shot the same day as Black Sand. This is Ledward’s latest composition, Hele Wawae, The Walking Song, and it’s a lovely tune to compare to Black Sand because that one was composed by Led’s dad, George Kaapana.

I’m honored to say that the world premier of Hele Wawae was on the duet CD I produced for Led and I, Kaleponi & Kalapana.

Back home in Walnut Creek I spent quite a few hours listening to different versions of Pua Lililehua, Kahauanu Lake’s song for his wife Maiki. It’s a rich melody and one that I’ve often admired, and I finally decided to put in the time to develop an arrangement I could play.

I wound up including Pua Lililehua in all the shows I did around Northern California with Ledward during February of 2022.

Naturally while Led was here for his tour we found a moment to shoot some video. One of the traditional tunes on our duet CD is the classic song about working and playing at Waikiki, Kaimana Hila.

It’s one of the first tunes I figured out “by ear” in my early slack key development because Lynn was learning a hula for the song. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring that out, but of course playing it with Ledward is like going for a graduate degree.

The last of this collection is Led’s interpretation of another Ray Kane composition, Keiki Slack Key. Ray told a story about visiting the Waimanalo grammar school and seeing all the local kids running around. He said Keiki Slack Key was inspired by those kids and their energy.

Led slows things down and emphasizes the sweetness of the melody while staying strictly within Uncle Ray’s structure. And I just hang in there enjoying the sound and feel of slack key.

I was enthralled by the list of performers who have recorded Aloha `Oe, from The Royal Hawaiian Band to Edison cylinders by unknown artists, from Bing Crosby to Les Paul, Elvis to Johnny Cash. And lets not forget Lilo and Stitch and Spongebob Squarepants. Quite a journey for a song that combines a poem set on windward O`ahu with a melody based on an old Serbian folk song.

I was introduced to a slack key version of Aloha `Oe by the wonderful Ozzie Kotani, a wonderfully talented teacher, arranger, and player. Although Ozzie has recorded the song in a drop C tuning, he taught a more elementary version in taropatch open G. I recall that absorbing Ozzie’s approach through this song gave my playing a terrific boost, new ways to work through chords and distribute a melody across the fretboard. I’d forgotten most of that arrangement so I pulled my version together by listening to various vocalists and recalling fragments from that early lesson.

While I was developing the arrangement for Aloha `Oe I was also experimenting with a pair of Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones. Omni mics are probably not as commonly used as directional mics, especially by home recordists, but omnis can deliver a special quality to a recording, especially in the lower ranges so I wanted to explore that capability. Combining two learning experiences at the same time led to a lot of unsatisfactory attempts, but when I finally pulled together the song and the recording tech I as glad I had persevered. I hope you found the result enjoyable.

I must admit that my enjoyment of audio and video technology is right up there with my enthusiasm for Hawaiian music – well, close anyway. Here are a couple of videos I’ve done recently that were explorations of tech as well as slack key. (more…)

I’ve been either too busy or too lazy to update the site since Led left back in February which is a shame because we captured four pretty nice video clips while he was here. They’ve been up on YouTube for a while and I’m finally getting around to adding them to this site. (more…)